LANSING – Legislation changing Michigan’s cable franchise system is now set for a vote in the Senate December 12 – Senate members can expect continued intense lobbying over several major issues still unresolved in HB 6456 : net neutrality and abrogation of current franchise agreements with local governments.
The Senate Government Operations Committee reported a version of the bill Wednesday afternoon that included a number of changes, but no agreement on the issues of contract abrogation and net neutrality. In fact, Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema (R-Wyoming) said World War III had broken out on the issue of net neutrality.
The amendments agreed to on the bill were the result of a workgroup that included Sikkema, Sen. Wayne Kuipers (R-Holland), Sen. Buzz Thomas (D-Detroit) and Senate Minority Floor Leader Sen. Mark Schauer (D-Battle Creek) along with officials of Governor Jennifer Granholm’s administration.
Because of those agreements, Sikkema said he had decided not to push a vote on the bill on Thursday as originally planned, but would hold the measure off until Tuesday to allow members to study the changes, prepare amendments and, of course, hear from interested individuals on the bill.
Initially, the bill was going to be reported from the committee without recommendation, which would have placed the bill on the Senate table and require a vote of 20 members to take up for discussion. Senate Minority Leader Bob Emerson (D-Flint) said to avoid the possibility that some members may avoid voting on the issue by not voting to take the bill off the table, he moved to report the bill with recommendation “even though I’m not very sincere about that.”
Sikkema said he felt it was critical to move the bill during the remaining session days of the 93rd Legislature. If it does become law then Michigan will be the beneficiary of major investment from telecommunications companies that will also create new jobs.
AT&T has already said it would invest up to $600 million in Michigan and hire as many as 2,000 people if the bill passed by the House became law.
But David Bertram of the Michigan Townships Association said whether the bill is passed or not, investment in the new telecommunications technology is already underway.
Emerson said changes needed to be made to the bill to provide greater consumer protection and to ensure that local governments are guaranteed some control over when franchise agreements.
“All the giant companies have reached agreement between themselves on what they’re going to do,” Emerson said. “I’d like to make sure that consumers are protected.”
Senate Democrats overall are concerned about revenues local governments receive and services provided as part of cable agreements, Emerson said.
Sikkema said ultimately the bill should pass because it will provide greater competition for consumers who complain constantly about the cost of television and Internet service.
AT&T has already said it would invest up to $600 million in Michigan and hire as many as 2,000 people if the bill passed by the House became law.
But David Bertram of the Michigan Townships Association said whether the bill is passed or not, investment in the new telecommunications technology is already underway.
Emerson said changes needed to be made to the bill to provide greater consumer protection and to ensure that local governments are guaranteed some control over when franchise agreements.
“All the giant companies have reached agreement between themselves on what they’re going to do,” Emerson said. “I’d like to make sure that consumers are protected.”
Senate Democrats overall are concerned about revenues local governments receive and services provided as part of cable agreements, Emerson said.
Sikkema said ultimately the bill should pass because it will provide greater competition for consumers who complain constantly about the cost of television and Internet service.
On abrogation of current contracts, Sikkema said he did not want to put current cable companies at a disadvantage compared to incoming cable providers.
And he dismissed the issue of net neutrality as a “buzzword” to allow Google to get out of paying for the services it provides.
Michael Yang of Google argued before the committee that Google and other Internet companies already do pay to put their content on the web.
And Paul Stankewitz of the Michigan Catholic Conference argued that net neutrality was critical to assure all individuals have equal access to provide content. Officials with the conference are worried that without the provision, religious Internet content will get frozen out.
The committee did adopt a series of amendments clarifying that companies will get credit for the franchise fees they pay, that consumers cannot have services switched on them, the fees charged for public access channels cover the cost of operations, that school districts are not viewed as video franchisers, and that cable operators would have to guarantee that local emergency alerts are broadcast.
Along with net neutrality and abrogation of contracts, another major issue still undecided by the bill is the question of so-called cable build out.
Linda Teeter of Michigan Citizen Action praised the committee for its action on the bill and urged the Senate to act quickly on the bill.
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